New murder attributed to suspect

HOUSTON (CNN) -- Eager to plead guilty -- but not yet allowed
to -- an alleged serial killer suspected of murders in three
states received court-appointed defense attorneys Wednesday
and was ordered held without bail.

Meantime, the number of murders attributed to the Mexican
drifter believed to have crisscrossed the United States by
freight train rose from eight to nine -- six of them in
Texas.

The man known as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez appeared in a
Houston courtroom in connection with burglary charges
stemming from a December murder in that city. Harris County
authorities said if DNA evidence links him to that crime,
they'll upgrade the charge to murder.

About 200 miles north of Houston, police in Hughes Springs,
Texas, said palm prints found at the scene of an October
killing match those of the suspect. The victim, 83-year-old
Leafie Mason, was killed in her home near railroad tracks.

In another case, a rape victim left for dead identified Maturino Resendez as her assailant
Wednesday from a photograph, Lexington, Kentucky assistant Police Chief Fran Root told CNN.

In that attack, the first in a string that began nearly two years ago, her boyfriend, University of Kentucky student Christopher Maier, 21, was beaten to death.

The suspect, who has used many aliases throughout a
months-long manhunt, said during a brief hearing in Houston
that his real name is Angel Maturino Resendez.

Secured in handcuffs and dressed in an orange prison
jumpsuit, he stood before Texas District Judge Bill Harmon,
who asked the Mexican-born suspect through a translator if he
understood his rights in a burglary case linked to one of the
killings.

"Si," Maturino Resendez responded in Spanish.

Asked by the judge if he made up the name Rafael Resendez-
Ramirez, the suspect said it belonged to "an uncle of mine."

Prosecutors trying to build a death penalty case plan to
compare the suspect's DNA, taken from a blood sample, to DNA
evidence from the home of Dr. Claudia Benton, whose beaten
and stabbed body was found in her Houston home last December.

Harris County Assistant District Attorney Devon Anderson said
she hoped the DNA results would be available by the end of
next week.

When the judge told Maturino Resendez of the burglary charge
and asked if he had any questions, the 39-year-old replied
through the translator: "Can all this be done very quickly so
I can say I am guilty?"

The comment was not an official plea, prosecutors said,
because the purpose of the hearing was to set bond and
determine if Maturino Resendez had a defense attorney.

The unofficial admission of guilt was the second time
Maturino Resendez has done so.

At an overnight hearing on the burglary case, he also
attempted to enter a guilty plea, but the judge would not
allow it since the suspect was not represented by an attorney
and the charge had not been formally filed.

Anderson says she doesn't know what the motives in such killings would be
(158K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

Within hours of his family-negotiated surrender near El Paso,
the suspect was flown Tuesday to Houston, where authorities
interrogated him for nearly eight hours about the 1998
slayings of Benton and another Houston woman, Noemi
Dominguez.

He is now suspected of committing six murders in Texas, two
in Illinois and one in Kentucky, and is wanted for
questioning in as many as 14 other killings, from Miami to
Detroit and Phoenix, sources have told CNN.

Most of his alleged victims were bludgeoned to death.
Investigators have said they have no idea what motivated the
killings.

Investigators say he is linked to each of the murders in
different ways, including DNA, fingerprints, jewelry and
other items stolen from the victims, all of whom lived near
railroad tracks.

The surrender of Maturino Resendez -- arranged by family
members in contact with Texas Ranger Drew Carter -- capped a
massive international manhunt by thousands of investigators
and railroad authorities.

Maturino Resendez, who was placed on the FBI's "10 Most
Wanted" list of suspects last month, crossed a bridge over
the Rio Grande from Mexico to El Paso, Texas, and surrendered
to Carter, who was backed by federal agents.

Carter had spent two days negotiating the turnover with the
suspect's half-sister, Manuela Maturino, in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. The single mother was advised by her pastor, Troy
Robinson of Hope Chapel Foursquare Gospel Church, to contact
the Texas Rangers.

Robinson told CNN Correspondent Aram Roston that the sister
had come to him seeking counsel, and told him she did not
feel comfortable dealing with the FBI, which was coordinating
the manhunt.

After Maturino Resendez turned himself in, the slightly
built, clean-shaven suspect was made a brief court appearance
in El Paso on the burglary charge before being flown to
Houston.

The surrender agreement included assurances of family visits,
a psychological evaluation and promises that he would be safe
in jail, authorities said.

The agreement does not shield him from the death penalty.
Mexico has refused to return suspects to countries where they
may face a death penalty, which Mexico does not have.

Texas has executed more people -- 180 -- than any other state
since the death penalty was declared constitutional in 1976.
Harris County prosecutors have sent more killers to death row
than any other county in the nation.